This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
A food waste disposer of the type that is disposed underneath a sink and is mounted to a drain opening of the sink typically includes a food conveying section, a motor section and a grind section. The grind section is disposed between the food conveying section and the motor section. The food conveying section conveys food waste and water to the grind section. The grind section receives and grinds the food waste and the ground food waste is discharged through a discharge opening to a tailpipe.
The grind section typically includes a grind mechanism with a rotating shredder plate assembly and a stationary grind ring. The shredder plate assembly is connected to a shaft of an electric motor of the motor section and includes a shredder plate with one or more lugs, typically one or more pairs of lugs. The lugs may include fixed lugs that are fixed to the shredder plate, rotatable lugs (also called swivel lugs) that are rotatably fastened to the shredder plate and are free to rotate thereon, or both. The shredder plate is rotated relative to the grind ring via the electric motor. The grind ring is typically mounted in a housing and includes multiple spaced teeth.
During operation of the food waste disposer, the food waste that is directed from the food conveying section to the grind section is forced by the lugs against the grind ring to comminute the food waste. When the lugs are swivel lugs, rotation of the shredder plate creates a centrifugal force that acts upon the lugs and enhances comminution of the food waste between the lugs and the grind ring. The sharp edges of the teeth grind the food waste into particulate matter (or ground matter). When the food waste is sufficiently ground, the food waste passes through gaps between the shredder plate and the grind ring and enters a discharge area in an upper end bell as a food waste/water slurry. It is then discharged out a discharge outlet in the upper end bell through a tail pipe to a drain line of household plumbing.
Typically, food waste disposers operate off household power and require access to the household power in the sink cabinet. In a typical installation, the food waste disposer is wired to household power through a wall switch that is used to turn the food waste disposer on and off. Alternatively, when the food waste disposer is a batch feed disposer, the wall switch can be replaced by an activation means located in the stopper used with the batch feed disposer. In another alternative, an air switch mounted on the sink deck or countertop, or wireless remote control, can be used instead of the wall switch to turn the food waste disposer on and off.
One way of disposing of food waste is using a food waste disposer. A problem sometimes faced with existing food waste disposers is that installing a food waste disposer to a sink of a dwelling for the first time can be difficult and relatively expensive due to the need to alter the plumbing under the sink and route electricity under the sink. Many times this is beyond the capabilities of the normal dwelling owner and the installation must then be contracted to a professional further increasing the cost of the installation making it cost prohibitive in some cases. Another problem sometimes faced with existing food waste disposers is that the landlord in the case of rental dwellings may not permit the permanent installation of the food waste disposer. In some cases, the applicable building codes may not allow for the permanent installation of the food waste disposer. In each case, the convenience and hygiene of using a food waste disposer to dispose of food waste may not be readily available if at all.
Composting is another way of dealing with food waste. The decay rate of food waste in a compost pile is influenced by the size of the food waste. If the size of the food waste can be reduced to smaller particles, the food waste will decay faster allowing for a smaller composting area to compost a given amount of food waste. There are presently small hand operated devices available for home use to grind food waste for composting. A problem with these devices is that their capabilities are limited both in the size of the particles to which they can reduce the food waste and the different types of food waste that they can grind, such as their ability to grind hard food waste. Conventional food waste disposers of the type described above have been converted to run outside and discharge into a container. A problem is that this can be be inconvenient, messy and somewhat impractical since most conventional food waste disposers are not designed for outside use.